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  • Author Author: dubbie
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SuperRobot #4 : Putting it Together

dubbie
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For my SuperRobot implementation for the Month of Robots I have now spray painted the base a nice red, using paint left over from my one string electric guitar. Now I need to add all the other elements, starting with the train. This is a simple train and track purchased from a car-boot sale recently. The train seems to have plenty of internal volume for adding some additional electronics.

 

 

So the first thing to do is to remove the top of the train, which is just clipped on.

 

 

Underneath is the battery holder which must now be removed to reveal the motor and gearing, as well as the speaker and small control PCB.

 

 

Once I had removed everything, rather than try to stick everything onto the existing chassis of the train I decided to put the batteries and the Arduino controller with dual DC motor drive (DRV8833) into a truck pulled along behind the train. Then all that is needed is to connect wires from the motor to the following truck and connect to the motor driver PCB. Once that was done it could be tested, along with SuperRobot as the paint has now dried.

 

 

Despite my earlier tests and success with getting SuperRobot to move forward when the motors were directly connected to the battery it seems that when the dual DC motor driver is used that something cannot cope. The Arduino is not resetting so that power supply is OK, so I am assuming at present, that the motor driver PCB is somehow doing some sort of over-current protection, which is something that I will have to look into, if time permits. However, the Arduino part and the Bluetooth link part and the dual motor drive part (except when in contact with carpet) all do work. Plus, the train is now under Arduino control and seems to work well.

 

Dubbie

  • in reply to shabaz

    Shabaz,

     

    Thanks for the support. This project hasn't gone as well (or even at all!) as I had planned so it is nice to at least have something.

     

    The train was a good fine and my original idea was to fit all the electronics inside the original shell, as it is big enough, but time passed quickly and now there isn't time, but I might come back to it in the future. Train sets are always good and there is a lot of track and a bridge that comes with the train. Hopefully some of this will make it onto SuperRobot.

     

    Dubbie

  • Hi Dubbie,

     

    That looks very cute, with the breadboard on the train carriage, controlling the engine : ) It looks great, and the breadboard means more functions could be added by people, such as LEDs or emergency braking system with a photoreflector : )

    It's a really nice find, the engine was perfect for such a project!

    Where did the train set come from? Just curious, I've not seen one like this (I've purchased several over the past few years, for my nephews).